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5 Reasons Why You Should Watch "American Horror Story"

A month into the new fall TV season, we’re still waiting for our new weekly obsession. Seriously, what are we supposed to do once Breaking Bad’s amazing fourth season ends this Sunday? Finally see what all of the Grey’s Anatomy hype is about? Slim chance.

There are a few freshman shows worth riding out, but definitely not enough. ABC’s Pan Am, about sexy ’60s-era stewardesses, has promisingly captured a fraction of that Mad Men allure; the futuristic dinosaur series Terra Nova, on FOX, makes up for its narrative handicaps with impressive special effects; and NBC’s Will Arnett/Christina Applegate sitcom Up All Night is the season’s funniest new comedy, despite its lack of focus (we love Maya Rudolph, but why is her slightly obnoxious character just as prominent as theirs?)

Mostly, though, television’s fresh slate falls more in line with NBC’s just-cancelled The Playboy Club: dead on arrival. That’s why we’re so geeked about American Horror Story, which premieres tonight at 10pm EST, on FX. Created by Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck) and Brad Falchuk (Murphy’s Glee counterpart), American Horror Story is a demented, sexually twisted, and unabashedly dark series about a husband (Dylan McDermott) who moves his wife (Connie Britton) and teenage daughter (Taissa Farmiga) from the East Coast to a creepy old house in Los Angeles.

The family brings its own demons; daddy cheated on mommy with a younger woman, and their kid is an anti-social eccentric who cuts herself. And that’s all in action before the haunted house’s own demons (i.e., pre-teen ghosts, ethereal S&M fetishists, a fanged phantom in the basement) come out to play. Intrigued yet? Having seen, and really dug, tonight’s pilot episode, we’re thinking that FX’s wild genre show could become that elusive “new weekly obsession.” Learn why you, too, should join the club with our 5 Reasons You Should Watch American Horror Story.